Refusing to pay your Maintenance fee
This action by consumers was initially developed and championed by Sandy Grey and all such credit ought to be given to him, as this tactic has proved very effective in releasing timeshare owners from contracts which they wish to relinquish. This said disputed positions may morph and change and parties need to keep abreast until such time as the dispute has reached demise.
In this article I discuss an addition to the refusal to pay which will have good advantages in the event that an action eventually does take place. The additional implementation will encircle your action with a level of protection and set the dispute on a good footing.
This “non payment of maintenance fee protection” was researched, explored and further developed by the team at the “TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk”
I hope this article will revisit the issue after the sudden death of Sandy Grey.
As I have always maintained the relationship between the parties involved in timeshare “is a contract” which at some point both parties entered into. That contact is governed by the terms of “the contract” and as such it is those terms which ought to be visited when one party to the contract is unhappy with the actions of another.
In respect to equity based timeshare (whereby a timeshare owner owns the right to a week in a particular year) they in short have a right to occupy a property. Most of these leases operate the same way as leaseholders have to their landlord. In the case of timeshare the timeshare, owners generally do not pay rent under the terms of the timeshare contract but are obliged by the terms of the lease/timeshare contract. It is that contract which levies on the consumer the management charges which are associated with the contractual obligation to maintain and repair.
Enshrined in law is “if a claimant maintains that a party is in debt to another then the party raising the claim has to support that claim by way of a invoice which sets out the basis of the Claimants claim. In this case the claim is for maintenance fee which are due and owing to the club or association which incurs the liability for which the liability can be passed on to the debtor” (the consumer).
Assume therefore that a general consumer is faced with any invoice for any particular purported debt. That consumer (if not satisfied with the amount of the claim or the claim in its self) can and should challenge the debt and ask the claimant to provide information and a breakdown showing how they arrived at this indebtedness which they now claim.
This action taken by the consumers is reasonable and the liability then shifts to the claimant to satisfy the request of the consumer. In any event, if the reasonable request is refused and/or ignored by the claimant then any future action in the British courts would have to be stayed until such time as the evidence was provided and provided in full to the consumer.
This has to be a very onerous exercise on behalf of the claimant as the amount of justification required is substantial. This said it ought to be freely available to all consumers and it is the basis of their claim and we know that if this foundational documentation is not available or is being refused by the claimant his actions will warrant substantial penalties in the event of any court action which follows. It’s not a game changer but it will have vast consequences in the event the claimant refuses the request by action or silence.
The documents which you request should be proportionate and reasonable and will be free, as the liability entirely rests with the claimant in respect to the justification of their own claim.
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For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk